Pakistan is poised to lift emergency rule tomorrow, but critics said this would make little difference to President Pervez Musharraf's ability to engineer an election win for his allies.
With parliamentary elections only weeks away, restrictions on media and the judiciary still stack the cards in favour of Mr Musharraf and his caretaker government, opposition members and political analysts said.
Mr Musharraf imposed the emergency on November 3rd, suspended the constitution and purged the Supreme Court to fend off challenges to his re-election, which new hand-picked judges have since rubber-stamped.
Under international pressure, including from his ally the United States, Mr Musharraf said he would restore the constitution.
Several judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who were deposed by Mr Musharraf are still being held under house arrest. The Pakistani media criticised this week a ban on live broadcasts as an attempt to control election coverage.
Election monitors say the caretaker administration can fix the result, and Mr Sharif and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's opposition parties have said the government has the power to rig votes.
Critics say Mr Musharraf, who stepped down as army chief last month, faces pressure to avoid losing because an opposition-run parliament could move to impeach him over accusations he acted unconstitutionally in securing a new term as president.